Thursday, March 18, 2004

:: To continue with Mohammed's diaries.

-The day, March the 18th. 2003.
-The dollar exchange price is 3200.
-I woke up in the morning after an restless sleep to find that everyone is awake. They couldn’t sleep last night, as they were eager to listen to the speech of GWB. Before I started to ask anything Ali faced me with a smile saying that “Saddam has only 48 hours left or probably less right now!”
I laughed, and then looked for a confirmation “are you sure? 48 hours only! Usually bank robbers or hostage kidnappers are given more than just 48 hours”.
-Well, well, Saddam and his sons are treated like little thieves, the humiliation is very clear here. It seems that we’re going to have 2 days full of events. The Iraqi street is becoming more nervous. The debate is over for those who had doubts about the seriousness of the war. The war is coming and even faster than what we thought.
-Few years ago I used to find myself optimistic when I see Iraq taking the head of the news hour and I say “yes, the tragedy is coming to an end” and then I come in the next day to find that the world took a step backwards.
Today Iraq is the only news, that it became difficult for us to watch all the news about the country.
-The weapons’ inspectors are leaving Iraq today and Tony Blair wins the vast majority of votes for Britain’s participation in the operations.
-The Iraqi regime condemns the warning and Saddam is on TV wearing his military uniform for the first time since more than a year.
-The street is certain that Saddam will not take use the chance and leave but people wonder, “will a miracle happen?” despite the fact that many Iraqis believed that the coming operation is just like the ones before; “limited strikes and Saddam remains in power” but no, not this time. This will be his end for sure; however the previous experiences made Iraqis doubt the credibility of the world intentions to topple Saddam.
-My ride in the streets is very interesting; people are buying everything and anything. I was surprised to see some stores totally empty; people are buying things in dozens or crates and there’s significant crowding near the gas stations.
-The special guards and the Ba’ath and emergency troops and militias are taking their positions in Baghdad.
-Some of the big stores are having walls of bricks to block the entrance as a safety precaution for what might happen. They’re completely sealing the doors of the shops, we don’t know how much time it will take for these walls to be removed and for life to return normal.
We’re facing a mysterious future but everyone despite the great worries is repeating one phrase “either death or a better life” we’ll no more tolerate this situation.
Only time carries the answer.